


Bad Honey

by Rinkafic



Series: Magor 'verse [5]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen, Kid!Fic, Stargate Atlantis AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-02
Updated: 2012-11-02
Packaged: 2017-11-17 14:48:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/552738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinkafic/pseuds/Rinkafic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David is sick and Lorne has to take care of him.</p><p>Just a little snippet done as a Halloween treat for fififolle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bad Honey

“Um, Da sick.” Zoe tugged on the sleeve of Lorne’s robe, trying to get his attention. “Um!!!”

“What?” He lifted his quill and looked down at the tiny girl, now staring up at him as she chewed on her lip.

She pointed towards the door. “Da sick.” She tugged Lorne’s sleeve again, her wings fluttering in agitation as she took a few steps towards the door, running on the balls of her bare feet. Zoe refused to wear shoes, the best they could do was occasionally get socks over her feet, but they never stayed on very long. She glanced back at him and gave him a cross look when he didn't follow immediately. “Um!” she demanded imperiously.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” He stood and stretched briefly before bending to scoop Zoe up and rest her on his shoulder. She gripped his hair to keep her balance.

He started for the glass house, where David usually spent his days fussing with his plants, but Zoe tugged his hair and pointed him towards the bedchambers. When he got to the door, he frowned at the sight of his apprentice. David was pale and drenched with sweat, even though the air in the house was quite cool. “Da sick,” Zoe repeated.

“So I see. Would you go get some water in this pitcher, Zoe? Can you manage that?” Setting her on the floor, Lorne handed her the small wash jug from the table beside David’s bed. It looked enormous in the tiny Sylphan’s arms as she held it clutched to her as she scampered from the room, intent on her task.

“Let’s have a look at you,” Lorne grunted as he sat on the edge of the bed. He waved a hand over David’s body before touching him, using magic senses to try to figure out what was wrong. He brushed his fingers over David’s forehead, finding it burning with fever. His apprentice’s eyes fluttered open, and there was pain evident there when he looked up at Lorne.

“What did you eat or drink, David? This seems to be a poisoning.” Lorne could sense the poison coursing through David’s blood. “Quickly, if you can answer me, I need to find an antidote.”

David closed his eyes and Lorne felt a wave of panic that made him grab David’s shoulders and shake him roughly. “David! Don’t you leave me. Who will care for Zoe?”

“Zoe?” The child’s name roused him. “Where’s Zoe?”

“Getting water. What did you eat or drink, David?”

David blinked at him, then frowned in concentration as he thought about it. “Same as you. Bread, cheese. Tea with honey.”

Honey? “David, we’re out of honey.” Lorne knew this because Zoe was complaining about everything else she had to eat instead of her favored food.

“Shelf.” David winced and then lost consciousness.

A feeling of dread twisted in his middle. “On a shelf? In the workroom?” Zoe came into the room and Lorne took the jug of water from her, set it on the table and then gently clasped her tiny hand in his. “Zoe? Stay with Da. Give him water if he wakes up. That’s my good girl.” He kissed her head and then ran from the room to verify if what he feared might be had really occurred.

The jar he expected to find missing was gone from the shelf, he found it in the kitchen when he went there. Hurriedly, he grabbed a clean pot and pumped water into it, then ran back to the workroom with it tucked under his arm, going through the list of things he would need to concoct a remedy and praying to the goddess that he wasn't too late to save David.

Double checking himself as he went, consulting three different spell books for the antidote, he mixed the potion and set it aside to let it steep for the required time.

He ran back to David’s bedchamber, where Zoe was huddled against David’s side, sobbing silently. “Oh, Zoe,” he whispered, and picked her up, cradling her to his neck and rocking her.

“Fix him, Um. Fix him,” she begged. He had been Um since the rapidly growing sylph first started talking, no amount of coaxing on his or David’s part could convince her to call Lorne anything but Um.

He kissed her forehead. “I’ll try, dear one. I’ll try. Now, don’t let him see you sad, he’ll be sad too.” He settled on the edge of the bed, keeping Zoe in his lap as he poured a cup of water and held it to David’s lips. “David, drink,” he coaxed.

His apprentice didn't open his eyes, but he did swallow a few mouthfuls of water before turning his head away. Lorne patted his shoulder and stood up. Taking Zoe with him this time, her slight weight almost inconsequential as she clung to his neck and rode on his hip, he went back to the workroom.

Her eyes went wide when she saw the clear jar of amber honey. “Ooohhh,” she cooed, her tiny hands reaching out towards it, fingers fluttering.

Lorne caught one of her hands and kissed it as he shook his head. “No, dearest. That honey is bad. That is why David is sick, he ate the bad honey.” How to explain to the child that the tree that had housed the hive that produced the honey had been hit with a rebounded curse? He never should have kept the honey, but his natural curiosity and desire to study it had made him collect it and he had nearly forgotten about it.

“Bad honey?” Zoe’s purple eyes went wide with disbelief at the thought of such a thing being possible. She eyed the jar skeptically as she drew her hands back to her chest, clutching them there.

“I made medicine for David. I need to put you down now.” He kissed her cheek and set her on the worktable. She sat, her feet swinging over the edge as she silently watched him drop dried leaves and herbs into a tea cup and pour out the brewed potion, stirring and whispering an incantation. He tested it with the tip of his finger, touching the drop to his tongue and nodding in satisfaction at the acrid taste that told him it was ready.

She smiled warily at him, showing sharp, pointed teeth at the edges of her lips. Luckily, her 'biting phase' had been quite brief. “Good and done, Um?”

“I hope so.” He turned his back and crouched down slightly so that she could nimbly scramble up onto his shoulder. He picked up the teacup and set it on a saucer. Zoe idly braided strands of his hair as he walked, a habit she had. David kept threatening to give her glass beads to weave in. Lorne could hardly believe it had only been two winters since the tiny sylphan babe had been left on their doorstep.

When they got to the bedroom Lorne set the teacup on the table and carefully slid an arm under David’s shoulders. He lifted him to a sitting position, though David groaned and whimpered and began to push at him feebly. “Shh. Don't struggle, now. You need to drink this, David.”

“Whatsit?” David slurred, trying to open his eyes.

“Antidote. You've gone and poisoned yourself.” Lorne put the delicate cup to his lips. As he leaned in, Zoe reached over and began to pet David’s head, making high pitched clicking noises with her tongue.

Dutifully, David drank it as Lorne cupped the back of his head and tilted it back. Setting the cup aside, he helped David settle back on the pillow. When Zoe moved, apparently intending to cuddle with David, Lorne caught her under the arms and put her back up on his shoulder, out of the way. “No, dear, he’s not going to stay still for very long,” Lorne cautioned. He reached for the ceramic wash bowl under the table next to the bed, holding it on his lap. He was ready when David surged up, getting the bowl under his chin as the potion came back up. Hopefully, it brought up whatever remained in his stomach of the poison.

After David’s breathing calmed, Lorne pressed the cup to his lips again. “You need to drink again. Hopefully it stays down this time.”

It didn't. But the third time, it did, and only then did Lorne let him sag back to the pillow and sleep with Zoe sitting beside him, fretfully plaiting David's hair. Lorne smiled and dug into his pocket, coming up with a few pieces of colored string and a rock with a hole in it that he had planned to give the child at some point. He clasped the rock and whispered an incantation of protection. “Here, Zoe, I warded that for Da.” He held his hand out, palm up, with the offerings. Zoe smiled gleefully and scooped it all up. She undid the braid she had just made and started again, this time with the colored string added.

Leaving David to sleep for a bit, Lorne went back to the workroom figure out what he should do when his apprentice woke. He stared at the offending jar of honey, he wanted to destroy it, but he didn't dare until David was well, in case he needed to perform a stronger spell to cure him. He couldn't be angry with David for taking the jar and using it. It wasn't properly labeled. He supposed he should be thankful it was David that had eaten the honey first and not Zoe. He didn't have the first clue how to go about curing a sylphan child of such a poison. He made a mental note to research that, just in case.

Setting a pot of tea on the table, he turned a circle and looked around at the workroom. He could have lost David. He sank down onto a stool and dropped his head into his hands, letting out some of the fear he had not dared to show in front of the child. She was so attuned to their moods, their emotions, it had become second nature for him to wall everything up and parcel it out so that he did not overwhelm the girl.

After a time, Lorne heard her calling for him. He wiped his face with the sleeve of his robe, straightened his shoulders and got his emotions back under control before collecting the teapot. Zoe was stroking David’s face and making the noises with her tongue that David called her ‘purring sound’ - she was obviously relieved that David was awake and smiling at her. So was Lorne.

He put his hand to David’s forehead, finding it much cooler than it had been. “How’s the pain?” he asked, choosing his words carefully so that he did not alarm Zoe.

“Better. What was it?”

“The hive was corrupted.” He raised a hand when David looked alarmed. “This was my fault entirely, I did not label the jar properly. When you are feeling better, we’ll go through the shelves together. We don’t want another such accident.” He looked over at Zoe meaningfully. She had her head bent over David’s hand as she played idly with his fingers.

David nodded slowly. “I was going to... for her midday meal.” He shuddered and Lorne patted his arm.

“I suppose I’ll need to go to the city, for some of the supplies that we've run out of.”

His apprentice’s eyes went wide. Lorne had not ventured out to the city in years. “You hate the city,” David said.

“I can’t have my family wanting for necessities, now can I? I brought you some tea, it should help to calm your belly.” He reached over David and lifted Zoe under the arms. “You come with me, little one, let Da rest.”

“Game?” Now that David was no longer in apparent distress, Zoe was more like herself.

“I’ll hide some things for you to find, shall I?” Lorne smiled as she clapped her hands. He set her on her feet and she dashed from the room, running on her toes, her sandy curls bobbing behind her.

David grabbed his hand. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m the one who should be apologizing. Rest. I’ll see to Zoe today, my work for the Council can wait a few days. If I make an appearance at the Council House, it should satisfy my obligations to them for some time.” He squeezed David’s hand and tucked it under the blanket, which he pulled to David’s chin.

“Um, come play!” Zoe called from the hallway.

Then he went to keep their sylphan child out of trouble, if he could manage it. He heard a crash and a delighted squeal and ran from the room.

 

The End


End file.
